The U.S. State Department approved a potential sale of extended-range Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) systems and related equipment to Ukraine, the agency announced May 5.

Newly released recordings linked to Ukraine's biggest corruption scandal have put Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, back into the spotlight, prompting renewed scrutiny over his role in U.S.-brokered peace negotiations. The developments come at a particularly sensitive moment. Umerov, a former defense minister, has not been formally charged but is allegedly under investigation. He is reportedly mentioned in the most recent set of leaked recordings, tying him

Key developments on May 5: * Russia's Kirishi oil refinery stops production after drone strikes * European Commission opens call for proposals to join EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance * Russian fiber-optic FPV drones reach Kramatorsk, Ukraine's Donbas stronghold * EU votes in support of Nuremberg-style tribunal for Russia. Ukrainian Flamingo missiles struck a Russian military production facility in Cheboksary overnight on May 5, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as part of a large-scale missile

Russia launched attacks on Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast and Zaporizhzhia in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on May 5, killing at least 17 people and injuring 52 others, local authorities said.

Ukrainian forces launched a missile and drone attack on multiple Russian regions overnight on May 5, reportedly striking a critical Russian military-industrial site in Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic, Russian Telegram media channels reported.

Partway through the procession, Ukrainian activists from the Free Defenders movement pushed to the front and unfurled a large banner reading "Mortal Regiment."

"Recent repeated violations of the airspace of EU member states have shown the urgency of creating a flexible, agile and state of the art European capacity to counter unmanned aerial vehicles," the European Commission said.

The Special Tribunal plays an important role because no other court has a legal mandate to prosecute the international crime of starting a war of aggression.

The motion was initiated by the Social Democrats (PSD), who left the governing coalition last month, and by the far-right, Ukraine-skeptic Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).

Russian fiber-optic FPV drones have reached Kramatorsk, posing a new threat to one of Ukraine’s key strongholds in Donetsk Oblast.

"Ukraine is a country that has played the role of a reliable food security guarantor for Egypt for many years — and we don't understand why Egyptian partners pay us back by continuing to accept stolen Ukrainian grain," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country's culture has finally received the attention it had previously lacked. But Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna aims for more than mere survival — she envisions a cultural sphere that thrives and becomes a major economic driver for Ukraine. In a conversation with the Kyiv Independent, Berezhna explains why culture needs measurable goals to succeed both nationally and internationally, how her experience in law, economics, and go

"The practice of exploiting vulnerable people to prop up Russia’s failing and illegal war in Ukraine is barbaric," U.K. Sanctions Minister Stephen Doughty said.

Russia launched 11 Iskander ballistic missiles in the overnight attacks, as well as 164 Shaheds and Shahed-type drones in overnight attacks, Ukraine's Air Force reported.

The figure includes 970 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russia's overnight attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure killed five and injured another 37, Ukraine's gas utility reported.

Belarus continues expanding military-related infrastructure that could support Russian operations, even though Moscow does not currently have enough troops stationed there to launch a new offensive against Ukraine, Kyiv's State Border Guard Service said on May 4.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on May 4 that Ukraine is proposing a ceasefire beginning at midnight on May 6, saying Kyiv is prepared to halt hostilities if Russia reciprocates.

Key developments on May 4: * Russia extends its 'Victory Day truce' to May 8-9, Ukraine says no proposals received * At least 7 killed, 35 injured in Russian attack on Kharkiv Oblast * Luxury Moscow tower reportedly hit by Ukrainian drone strike ahead of Kremlin's Victory Day Parade * Zelensky meets Fico ahead of Slovak leader's Moscow trip * Russia launches more than 10 times as many drones at Ukraine's port infrastructure in 2026 as last year * Russian authorities publish list of Tuapse

Law enforcement officials conducted 44 searches across 16 regions of Ukraine as part of an investigation into current and former senior draft office employees.

Zelensky said earlier on May 4 that Ukraine had received no official ceasefire proposals, contrasting Russia's claimed truces with ongoing attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Russia has launched over 800 drones against Ukraine's port infrastructure since the beginning of 2026, Oleksii Kuleba, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for restoration and minister for communities and territories development, said.

The list, posted without announcement on the municipality's website on May 4, is a spreadsheet showing the locations of 186 shelters, most of them in the basements of apartment buildings.

A fire broke out at an oil facility in the Fujairah emirate after it was hit by a drone launched from Iran, local authorities said.

Viktor Orban's electoral defeat appears to be easing Ukraine's relations with not one, but two of its neighbors. President Volodymyr Zelensky met Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Yerevan on May 4, continuing an unexpectedly constructive exchange between the two leaders. Zelensky and Fico agreed their governments would hold talks in Kyiv or Bratislava by the end of June to develop cooperation in transport infrastructure and energy, according to the Slovak government. "We are neighbors, we

"We spoke about exchanging visits to Kyiv and Bratislava and agreed that our teams will work out the schedule," Zelensky said.

On the morning of May 4, Russian forces struck the town of Merefa in Kharkiv Oblast with missiles, killing at least four people and injuring another 18.

Russian soldiers are now dying at an exceptionally high rate in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials, in what could mark one of the deadliest killed-to-wounded ratios seen in modern warfare. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 10 that "out of 100 percent of losses, 62 percent are killed and 38 percent wounded" among Russian forces, citing intelligence assessments reviewed by Ukraine — a ratio of nearly 2:1. A source in the President's Office familiar with the data told the Kyiv Ind

MetLife Ukraine makes up 50% of the Ukrainian market, earning nearly Hr 1 billion ($22.6 million) in profits last year from its 900,000 clients.

"This is the first visit by the President of Ukraine to Armenia in the past 24 years," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The general also served as commander of Russia's troop contingent in Syria.

Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen met bilaterally during the European Political Community summit in Armenia, where the two agreed that U.K. participation "would be a major step forward in the EU-U.K. defense industrial relationship."